The day after: Israel reacts to Olmert’s news

Summing up the prime minister’s term, Aluf Benn wrote in Ha’aretz that Olmert failed in war and failed in peace.

By making his intentions clear at this stage, Olmert at least will earn back some respect and be able to leave office on his own timetable, rather than having the police decide it for him, wrote the Jerusalem Post’s Calev Ben-David. His paper’s editorialists called Olmert’s announcement “a dignified end.”

Olmert’s primary failure was his failure to respond positively to the Arab peace initiative, which offered pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, Ha’aretz’s Akiva Eldar writes.